Tuesday, September 20, 2016

A new finding could help explain why painkillers are so addicting

Researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder tested opioids -- like morphine -- on rats, and found a few days' worth of doses caused months of chronic pain.

The
painkillers were found to spur a "cascade" of reactions that led to
more pain signals being fired from nerve cells in the spinal cord and
brain.

"What we found were those rats that were treated with
placebo control were recovering about 4 to 5 weeks after that," said
researcher Peter Grace. "But those rats that had morphine took twice as
long to recover. So, it took about 10 or 11 weeks to return to normal
threshold."

Distinguished Professor Linda Watkins said, "This is a very ugly side to opioids that had not been recognized before."

Grace
suggests if painkillers work the same way in humans as they do in rats,
it could help explain why they're so addictive. Using them could cause
more pain, which, in turn, leads people to use them longer, leading to a
vicious cycle.
This research could lead to better pain treatments.